DON'T COME BACK: Labour MP tells Brit Muslims caught fleeing to ISIS they're ‘not welcome’
NINE British Muslims caught trying to enter Syria to join rebel Islamic fighters, should not be allowed back into the UK, Labour MP Simon Danczuk said.
The Rochdale MP, who represents the area where the group were from, described them as “the enemy” and said the Government’s plans were not working to stop radicalisation spreading like “cancer”.
One of the group trying to cross the border was student Waheed Ahmed, son of Labour councillor Shakil Ahmed, who served the town’s Kingsway ward with Mr Danczuk’s wife Karen until she resigned in January.
Waheed fled with eight other members of his family, but they were arrested in Turkey in the town of Reyhanli near the Syrian border. The two women, aged 47 and 22, three men aged 24, 22 and 21, and four children aged one, three, eight and 11, were taken to a nearby hospital and are expected to return to the UK this week.
Mr Danczuk said: “I think I speak for the vast majority of people in Rochdale in saying that this family will not be welcome back in Rochdale.
The idea someone who was prepared to join a terrorist outfit like ISIS could be allowed to return to civilian life in Rochdale is unacceptable
“The Islamic State in Syria are carrying out sickening and barbaric acts of inhumanity and anyone who pledges their allegiance to this cruel and twisted ideology will rightly be seen as an enemy of the UK.
“Waheed and his family were apprehended trying to get into Syria and had they been allowed to cross the border then I've been given to believe Waheed would now be getting trained up to fight for ISIS.
“The police have to recognise this, because the idea that someone who was prepared to join a terrorist outfit like ISIS could be allowed to return to civilian life in Rochdale and carry on as though nothing has happened is unacceptable.”
He added that he did not believe the Government’s counter terrorism strategy Prevent was not working.
He said: "I have spent the last few days in discussions with the Foreign Office minister, Greater Manchester's Police and Crime Commissioner, local authority leaders, religious groups and local people.
"The message coming back to me loud and clear is that while the vast majority reject this ideology of hatred, exclusion and intolerance, there are some people who are susceptible to radicalisation.
"I do not think the government's Prevent Strategy is working and we need a much smarter approach from all the authorities to stop this cancer spreading."
